Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism [Paperback]

William Harmless (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2004

In the fourth century, the deserts of Egypt became the nerve center of a radical new movement, what we now call monasticism. Groups of Christians-from illiterate peasants to learned intellectuals-moved out to the wastelands beyond the Nile Valley and, in the famous words of Saint Athanasius, made the desert a city. In so doing, they captured the imagination of the ancient world. They forged techniques of prayer and asceticism, of discipleship and spiritual direction, that have remained central to Christianity ever since. Seeking to map the soul's long journey to God and plot out the subtle vagaries of the human heart, they created and inspired texts that became classics of Western spirituality. These Desert Christians were also brilliant storytellers, some of Christianity's finest. This book introduces the literature of early monasticism. It examines all the best-known works, including Athanasius' Life of Antony, the Lives of Pachomius, and the so-called Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Later chapters focus on two pioneers of monastic theology: Evagrius Ponticus, the first great theoretician of Christian mysticism; and John Cassian, who brought Egyptian monasticism to the Latin West. Along the way, readers are introduced to path-breaking discoveries-to new texts and recent archeological finds-that have revolutionized contemporary scholarship on monastic origins. Included are fascinating snippets from papyri and from little-known Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopic texts. Interspersed in each chapter are illustrations, maps, and diagrams that help readers sort through the key texts and the richly-textured world of early monasticism. Geared to a wide audience and written in clear, jargon-free prose, Desert Christians offers the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to early monasticism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Those who teach courses in early monastic history have longed for a book like this. Some of us have though about writing it ourselves. Now the task has been done. Harmless has applied his considerable energy and pedagogical experience to developing a book that is informative and filled with resources for ongoing, in-depth study. He also navigates very complex historiography with clarity, candor, and respect. Surely, this superb contribution will remain the starting point and essential reference work on Egyptian monasticism for some time to come. We owe its author deep thanks for making the work of both teacher and researcher considerably easier." --Theological Studies

"...an indispensable work for anyone interested in ancient Christian monasticism, early Christian history and literature, and indeed the general examination of spiritual impulses that shape religion. This book is an outstanding acheivement in presenting and analyzing major works, interwoven with the diversity of scholarship that has blossomed in this area in the past thirty years." --Spiritus

"...comprehensive, absolutely current with respect to research, and deeply sympathetic to the monastic enterprise. Desert Christians belongs in every monastic library and would be well placed in the hands of every monk who wishes to know his or her tradition."--Cistercian Studies Quarterly

"It is the rare book that can introduce a literature and a field of study intelligently and thoroughly and make a significant scholarly contribution in its own right. This book does just that. It will become required reading for anyone interested in the world of early Christian monasticism."--CHOICE

"Why waste words? This is a thoroughly admirable book... An accomplished and unassuming piece of scholarship." --Scripta Classica Israelica

"There is no other volume on the desert Christians that is so generous with the facts and so reliable a key to modern debate on so many topics, great and small."--Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

William Harmless, S.J. is Professor of Theology at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. From 1996 to 2003, he held the Thomas E. Caestecker Chair of the Liberal Arts at Spring Hill College. He has been a member of the Society of Jesus since 1978 and is the author of Augustine and the Catechumenate (1995). His research on early monasticism has appeared in the journals Theological Studies, Church History, and Studia Patristica.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195162234
• ISBN-13: 978-0195162233
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Introduction and Reflection, April 12, 2005

By 

Paul S. Russell III (Chevy Chase, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism (Paperback)

Harmless's book offers the benefits of both an introduction to the Desert Fathers and a reflection on their work and lives. The material is divided up into small pieces and readers can skip directly to the particular parts they wish to use or begin at the front and go all the way through the volume. There is a very large set of notes and bibliography, so the book can be used as a source to find other work in the area and can be the starting point for many projects in the study of ancient Christianity. The only reasons this is not an ideal book to support an introductory course on the Desert Fathers are that it is mostly secondary (Harmless' thoughts and analysis) and that it is too expensive. This is the perfect companion to a serious reading of the ocean of texts from the early desert and no one who is seriously interested in this subject will want to delay in reading it. This will be a classic work and should be on the shelf of every religious library.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Study of Early Monastic Literature, March 1, 2008

By 

TheoGnostus "Encycoptic" (Sketes,Theognostic America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism (Paperback)

Evolution of Monastic Vocation:
In the fourth century, the deserts of Egypt became the nerve center of a radical new movement, what we now call monasticism. Groups of Christians-from illiterate peasants to learned intellectuals-moved out to the wastelands beyond the Nile Valley and, in the famous words of Saint Athanasius, made the desert a city. At the height of Christian asceticism in the Middle East, thousands of monks lived in monastic centers in Egypt, Nitria, Kellia, and Sketes in the West Delta, and Pachomian coenobitic communities in Upper Egypt. Later on the monastic practice moved into Palestine, and the Syrian deserts. Some lived in isolated caves, in real seclusion, rarely meeting other humans as did Abba Paul the first hermit.
Basing his work on multiple sources, James Goehring, an eminent expert on the evolution of monasticism in Egypt, and a pioneer scholars of early Christianity, has resiliently influenced a new direction in understanding the evolution of monasticism. He carefully examines the whole multiple sources, papyrological documents , traditional literary sources, and archaeological finds, into a clear narrative that infusing the history of Egyptian monasticism with revived energy.

Coenobitic Monasticism:
Goehring convincingly dismantles some previously regarded scholarship on early Egyptian monasticism, and situates Pachomian monasticism in the midst of the economic and social life of its time. The diversity of Egyptian monasticism, in theology and lifestyle is here demonstrated. Philip Rousseau's careful reading of the available texts reveals that Pachomius's pioneering enterprise has been consistently misread in light of later monastic practices. Rousseau not only provides a fuller and more accurate portrait of this great teacher and spiritual director but also gives a new perspective on the development of monasticism. In a new preface Rousseau reviews the scholarly developments that have modified his views and emphases since the book was published. The result is to make Pachomius an even less assured pioneer, who have been more involved in the village and urban society of his time than previously thought.

Early Monastic Literature:
Monastic forged techniques of prayer and asceticism, of discipleship and spiritual direction, to serve the core issue of Monastic Schema, the elder prescription for the means a novice needs for his salvation, that have remained central to monastic vocation ever since. Seeking to map the soul's long journey to God and plot out the subtle vagaries of the human heart, they created and inspired texts that became classics of Western spirituality. In so doing, they captured the imagination of the world. These Desert Fathers were also brilliant storytellers, some of Christianity's finest, including Athanasius' Life of Antony, the Lives of Pachomius, and Apophthegmata Patrum, Sayings of the Desert Fathers.
Such corpus includes fascinating snippets from papyri and from little-known Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopic texts. Interspersed in each chapter are illustrations, maps, and diagrams that help readers sort through the key texts and the richly-textured world of early monasticism. Geared to a wide audience and written in clear, jargon-free prose, Desert Christians offers the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to early monasticism. Various collections exist of aphorisms and anecdotes illustrative of the spiritual life, of ascetic and monastic principle, and of Christian ethics, attributed to the more prominent hermits and monks who peopled the Egyptian deserts in the fourth century.

Desert Hagiography:
Long neglected sources of early saints' lives, that were once dismissed as religious fantasy or worthless hagiography, have become one of the most exciting areas of research, recently recognized as potential treasure fields, rich with information to help reconstruct the social milieu and intellectual history of a remote era that was once considered a creation of mythical fables, but recently regarded as a fascinating source for a break through, a cultural change, of interest not only to religious specialists but to many research workers and scholars.
Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen were instrumental in popularizing 'Desert Wisdom,' the source spirituality of those desert dwellers. Christians who seeks God through prayer is continuing a tradition that began with the desert fathers and mothers, narrating few hundred sayings of those pioneers, though simple peasants whose spiritual progress was marked by poverty, patience, humility, inner peace, self-control, and genuine hospitality.

This Marvelous Study:
Fr William Harmless, S.J., who does not count the cost, should be commented for his scholarly toil and enlightening exploration of the roots of monastic tradition analyzing the hagiographic stories of the Desert Fathers. Fr Harmless is also a gifted storytellers like his Desert Fathers, apparent in the preface, telling us of his book scope, " to explore the art of stillness and prayer."
The author reveals his serious scholarship early on in his acknowledgements for John Bamberger, Norman Russell, Armand Veilleux, Benedicta Ward, and Tim Vivian, Boniface Ramsey, and pioneering essays from my favorite 'coptic Church Review. He does not fail to acknowledge Derwas Chitty, even if he rightly disagrees with him on the emphasis on the mother of all monastics: Coptic Egypt.
While the book examines most of the best works of hagiographa, he extensively explores two of the best students and advocates of Early Egyptian monasticism: Evagrius ponticus, and John Cassian. their mystical theology of the desert schema. In his very accessible work, Fr Harmless raised the bar of the art in the most comprehensive study of almost half a thousand page. It is right to borrow few of his own praise for Chitty that properly apply to him, "... not only possessed an astounding command of the texts, the languages, and the historical and geographical minutiae, but had, ... pioneered the debate on any number of fronts."

Words to Live by: Journeys in Ancient And Modern Egyptian Monasticism (Coleccion Semillas)
The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From Oxford University Press:, November 21, 2005

By 

S. McDonald "Library World" (Independence, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism (Paperback)

In this book, the author provides an accessible introduction to early Christian monastic literature from Egypt and beyond. He introduces the reader to the major figures and literary texts, as well as offering an up-to-date survey of current questions and scholarship in the field. The text is enhanced by the inclusion of chronologies, maps, outlines, illustrations, and bibliographies. The book will not only serve as a text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses on early Christianity, the Desert Fathers, and Christian asceticism, but it should stimulate further research by making the fruits of recent scholarship more readily and widely available.